Two years ago, a Subaru Impreza WRX STI set a new lap record of 19 minutes and 15 seconds on the Isle of Man TT course.

Not satisfied with that, the company has developed a new STI to try and beat its predecessor’s time.

‘We set out to design the ultimate WRX STI for this circuit,’ said Subaru’s Dominick Infante. What this means in practical terms is that they put in a call to Prodrive, whose work on its rally cars back in the day helped turn the Impreza into a legend.

What the car has had done to it is still under wraps, but what we know is that it’ll be piloted by British rally driver Mark Higgins. It was he who set the old record; to beat it, he’ll need to improve on an average of 117.5mph over the 37.7-mile course.

A date for the record run is yet to be confirmed, however it will happen at some stage during TT fortnight – which runs between 28 May and 10 June.